| Product: |
Creative Sound Blaster Live! 5.1 |
| Date: |
05/06/04 (316 review reads) |
| Rating: |
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Advantages: Price, Quality
Disadvantages: Somewhat old
This is a very good soundcard that really has a great price/quality relationship. I bought it a few years ago with the soundworks dts 2000 (be aware that this review is made with this soundcard/speakers combo) and I think it was one of the best buys I have ever made. Not only is it cheap (I bought it new for around 40£) it also delivers a EAX sound that will satisfy most average users.
Specifications (main ones at least)
Compatible with headphones, 2, 4 and 5.1 speakers
64 voice hardware polyphony
32 Mb memory
48 midi channels
Support for real time effects
131 available hardware channels
Customisable effects
Dolby Digital audio decoding
EAX compatible
Features
It?s amazing how much this card can do. Me, being an average user, never used more then half of its abilities but most pros will find some of its features, like the huge (in my opinion) memory for sample storing and all the sound effects supported. Plus, you can add further effects from the Internet or create your own thanks to his support of custom effects.
If you have a 5.1 speakers keep in mind that you will only use your central speaker when watching movies since he is somewhat turned of in other situations (there might be a way around this, but I haven?t found it for now)
Software
Besides the drivers, the cd included with the board includes a huge amount of software that helps you take the best of it. I will only cover the most important ones
Audio HQ ? from here you can reach every important control of your board like the mixer (more about it down there), Auto AEX that triggers a specific setting when you use a certain program (you program this), music keyboard, sound fonts and some other useful functions.
Surround Mixer ? I
;t?s from here that you control the most important sound options for the optimal listening. Besides the usual bass/treble/fade controls, from here you can also control your
position relatively to the speakers, you can choose the enviroment options (there are options for almost every kind of music, games, playing instrument, etc) or you can also create your own environments.
Creative Playcenter ? There isn?t much to tell about this piece of software, it?s like windows media player but with a different skin.
Creative Luncher ? This is a bar that stays at the top of the desktop form where you can reach a lot of useful sound blaster controls and other programs. I find it annoying so I never use it.
This a card I recommend to every person that wants to have a good sound with EAX and Dolby effects at a very reasonable price. If your aren?t a music professional or a very exigent listener, I don?t see any reason to spend more money.
Minimum Requirements:
Microsoft Windows® 95, 98, 98SE, NT 4.0, 2000, Millenium Edition or XP
Genuine Intel® Pentium® 166MHz or AMD® 200 MHz
Genuine Intel®, AMD®, or 100% compatible motherboard chipset
32MB system RAM (64MB recommended)
Open half-length PCI 2.1 compliant slot
CD-ROM drive for software installation
Headphones or amplified speakers (available separately)
Summary:
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